The Present Disclosure relates generally to multi-wire cables and more particularly, to an improved cable breakout construction at the area where the wires exit the trunk cable, and which is provided with an integrated strain relief.
In newer high speed cable applications, such as QSFP (Quad Small Form Factor Pluggable), an installer takes a multi-wire cable, opens an end of it and exposes a preselected length of each of the internal wires to create a cable breakout with a plurality of wire free ends, and in QSFP applications, typically four wire free ends will be formed. This breakout from one trunk cable to the multiple wire SFP (Small Form Factor Pluggable) breakout cables occurs in a transition zone. It is important to provide some sort of strain relief for such a breakout in order to prevent the wires from being damaged when connected to their respective connectors.
The most common way in which to provide strain relief is to provide a mold into which the breakout is placed and a plastic resin is molded over and around the open end of the trunk cable, as well as the near portions of the SFP breakout cables. However, this requires careful labor so that the trunk cable and breakout cables must be properly oriented, and if misalignment occurs, some of the wires of the breakout cables may be exposed and damaged in the overmolding process or afterwards when stress is placed on them during the connection phase. If any issue occurs to either the trunk cable or the breakout cables that results in detriment to the integrity of these cables, the entire assembly must then be scrapped, which is an unacceptable solution. Accordingly, a need exists for an improved cable-wire transition with means for providing strain relief to the cable and wires.
The Present Disclosure is therefore directed to an improved breakout of SFP breakout cables from a trunk cable that is particularly suitable for use in QSFP applications.